With the initial launch of some 5G services, the evolution of some key standards and the emerging clarity of various business use cases, the long-awaited IoT market is beginning to ramp. One of the key questions is which access technologies will find favor? Some recent studies, including a global survey by Heavy Reading, are pointing to cellular technologies – especially LTE-M, 5G and NB-IoT – as the market leaders. In this webinar, analyst Steve Bell will be joined by Chordant’s Vice President of Product Development, Mike Jeronis and Telit’s Vice President of Application Engineering, Kenneth Bednasz to examine the drivers behind that finding, and what it means for the future of IoT.

Artificial Intelligence applications, particularly those based on Machine Learning, are beginning to emerge in the communications networking domain to address the operational challenges posed by SDN and NFV. Increased complexity is driving the need for increased automation to ensure efficient operations. ML can enable higher levels of automation and make predictions for maintenance and capacity planning.

ML could support network operators to detect faults in real time, diagnose root causes, correlate across multiple events, filter out false alarms, and recommend solutions. Although some of these capabilities are built into existing service assurance solutions, these may struggle with the advent of 5G and IoT. Traditional rule-based alarm correlation requires a lot of manual rule maintenance. With ML we could instead train a system to devise its own rules on the fly.

In this webinar we will discuss:

Why traditional rule-based systems will not be able to scale to meet increasingly complex networks.

How ML can be used to filter alarms based on clustering and classification.

How ML can enable ongoing recalculation of baseline metrics in order to better identify anomalies and avoid false negatives.

This webinar will focus on the role of network automation, from the core to the edge, including access and aggregation networks. It will be presented by Carl Moberg, the engineering strategy lead for Cisco Network Services Orchestrator, the industry-leading software for automating service delivery across traditional and virtualized networks. Carl has spent many years trying to solve network management problems with special focus on automation and orchestration. In this webinar he will cover service delivery through the use of streaming telemetry and data models that express service intent.

Join this webinar to learn:

How these automation technologies have been successfully applied in live networks

How to improve your service delivery times

The key takeaways from the Light Reading’s London event (Nov 7-8) – Software Defined Operations & the Autonomous Network – where Carl Moberg will be the keynote speaker

Customer portfolio data is the record of what products, services and resources you have allocated to your customer. For communications service providers, customer portfolio data is often managed poorly, if at all. This is a major contributor to high levels of order fallout and, as a result, costly manual intervention and a degraded customer experience. By deploying a unified and centralized inventory of customer portfolio data, CSPs can automate more orders and spend less time manually fixing errors that occur during fulfillment.

How current management of customer portfolio data is negatively impacting customer experience

What new approaches are being applied to improve the management of customer portfolio data

How customer portfolio data can be leveraged to reduce fulfillment costs, improve the customer experience and unleash new commercial possibilities

The Next Frontier – From Communication Service Provider to Digital Service ProviderDate: 11/8/2018
Sponsors: CGI
View archived webinar

Digital transformation has become a core priority for communications services providers (CSPs), underpinning an increasing proportion of their investment decisions as they seek to shift to more digitally-focused operating models. However, CSPs are struggling to understand which technologies to prioritize, as well as how to align these with the business outcomes they are seeking to deliver. This webinar explores the platforms, processes and strategies European CSPs need to adopt to make digital transformation a reality.

Topics include:

What are the drivers and benefits of digital transformation?

What are the technology priorities for a successful transformation?

The increasing importance of automation

A snapshot of where European CSPs are on their digital transformation journey

How European CSPs are struggling to deliver on their technology priorities

What are the main challenges CSPs need to address?

How should CSPs navigate their way on this journey?

The webinar will share insights from new research conducted by Ovum into European CSPs’ digital transformation journey. To learn more about this, including best practice and what CSPs are doing to transform themselves into digital service providers, watch out for the "The Next Frontier – from Communications Service Provider to Digital Service Provider" whitepaper being published soon.

As we move towards a smart world where everything is connected, not only is WiFi the basis for the Internet of Everything, connecting people, things and locations together, it is also the driving force for the digital transformation of enterprise, government, education, retail and many other industries. For this reason, service requirements and access terminals are increasing in number, and there are a growing number of application scenarios. In different scenarios, requirements for WiFi coverage and access capability vary, as do requirements for application expansion and O&M. We invite you to sign up for the wireless campus webinar on November 7, where WLAN products, deployment and O&M in all scenarios are to be introduced and valuable insights shared.

The webinar includes the following:

Guidance of design and deployment of WLAN solutions for scenarios such as offices, hotels, retail, education and stadiums.

How does Huawei CloudCampus solution help you deploy a wireless campus network within minutes?

What advanced WLAN technologies do you need to know about to deliver an ultra-smooth user experience?

Not all market disruption is bad. Learn how two independent video operators – MCTV (Massillon) and HBC (Hiawatha Broadband Communications) – are leveraging IPTV technology and business models to make their video services thrive. In this session, executives from MCTV, HBC and Espial will discuss the video investment dilemma, IPTV and app-based TV. Listen in and reclaim your natural advantage in the video market by pursuing continuous innovation in your video offerings.

In this webinar, Alan Breznick, Cable/Video Practice Leader at Light Reading, will speak with MCTV, HBC and Espial executives about the following:

What are the video investment dilemmas and choices that video operators face?

Why did MCTV and HBC choose IPTV solutions that reduced their total cost of ownership?

How did these operators innovate on business models to make their video services thrive?

Get ahead of the curve. With many communications service providers beginning their journey to 5G, Red Hat and Affirmed are accelerating customers' transformation of their mobile networks. During this webinar, you will learn how operators are transitioning to virtualized, cloud-native architectures to scale their networks and provide the necessary service agility to introduce new 5G services. Together, we offer options to maintain control over the costs of your existing and new capex/opex investments. You will learn about how 5G is changing the way applications are designed and deployed and the role of microservices, containers and open source technologies. Find out how to get started today, regardless of where you are in your transformation journey, and how these technologies that disrupt the industry status quo can help your competitive differentiation.

When Three UK decided to virtualize its entire core network, they knew it also meant changing the way customer services were assured. In a highly competitive market, being able to reduce customer churn and attract new customers is both challenging and crucial. Add in the shift to cloud and virtual networking, and you find yourself entering unchartered territory. As a European carrier looking to fully virtualize its network, Three UK broke new ground and crafted innovative solutions on the fly. This webinar examines how Three UK successfully achieved its initiatives with EXFO's expertise in testing, monitoring and analytics to develop a fully virtualized service assurance solution that delivered true visibility into the virtualized world.

5G will transform our world. But as we rush to make 5G possible, everything will change – new devices, antennas, chipsets, frequencies, architectures, KPIs — leading to unprecedented complexity. When complexity collides with urgency, test and assurance is critical. Join us in this co-sponsored webinar with Spirent and VIAVI. VIAVI will discuss the fact that 5G will be more about business outcomes than technical architectures, opening up new revenue streams for operators. To reach that point, 5G will follow a path of three phases: 1) Technology verification and validation; 2) Deploy, activate and scale; and 3) Assure, optimize and monetize. Then learn from Spirent how new test methodologies and harmonizing test and service assurance across the DevOps lifecycle help assure the communications industry fulfills its promise of quickly and safely launching 5G to deliver new revenues, savings and experiences to its customers.

As enterprises look to accelerate the digitalization of office and production environments, they are facing three core challenges in terms of enterprise efficiency and digital experience.

First, due to the ever-growing use of mobile office and audio/video applications, user complaints about WiFi instability are becoming more frequent. Second, network administrators are unable to backtrace and demarcate user- and application-related faults. Third, the amount of encrypted traffic such as HTTPS has increased dramatically, and attackers can exploit this traffic to evade traditional detection.

To help address these challenges, Huawei has announced its next-generation Intent-Driven CloudCampus Solution, which builds on Huawei's latest Intent-Driven Network (IDN) architecture and comes with many innovations. In this webinar, we will show you:

How to implement fault prediction and self-healing of wired and wireless networks by using the AI technology in order to build a more intelligent network

How to simplify midsize, large, and multi-branch campus network deployment and management through network virtualization and cloud technologies so as to build a more simplified network

How to improve the WLAN network capacity and experience through SmartRadio to efficiently respond to challenges brought by fast-growing 4K video, Virtual Reality (VR) applications, and Connectivity of Everything

How to provide customers with faster industry application rollouts, shorten Time-To-Market (TTM) from months to weeks, and build an open network

VNF managers (VNFMs) have been an essential component of any virtualized cloud from day one. Although this won't change in the future, as the past few years have illustrated virtualized service instances are no longer bound by any perimeters and will continue to adopt a fully decentralized architecture.

In response, VNFMs are continuing to evolve to support not only edge services but more "service aware" networks that ultimately mandate a flexible and programmable VNFM product design.

Accordingly, this webinar will examine in detail how VNFMs are changing to adapt to these new service requirements by supporting advanced capabilities such as configurable capacity, which represents the optimal approach for scaling individual service instances.

Topics to be addressed include:

Documenting in detail configurable capacity, what it is and why it's important

Presenting the use cases that are driving the implementation of a configurable capacity-enabled VNFM

Analyzing the role of other complementary capabilities including modeling tools such as TOSCA that VNFMs will require to thrive in this emerging service-aware world

Considering the security requirements inherent with an edge service architecture

An overview of F5's NFV and VNFM portfolio and product development strategyc

5G is a game changer. The move to 5G will result in a set of diverse transport requirements driven by new use cases and the expectation of high-capacity, low-latency, reliable and secure communications. As the traditional distributed Radio Access Network (RAN) site disaggregates, the glue holding the 5G RAN together is the underlying transport network. A number of architectures are proposed, including distributed RAN (D-RAN), centralized RAN (C-RAN), virtualized RAN (V-RAN) and elastic RAN (E-RAN). On this Light Reading webinar, we will address the following:

How do these different 5G architectures impact the underlying transport network?

How do new 5G requirements affect the transport network, including new protocols, synchronization, large buffer size, automation and others?

How can operators complement fiber with high-capacity microwave for both urban and rural applications?

What can operators do today to address these changing requirements on transport and win the 5G race?

As demand for SD-WAN gathers pace, service providers are racing to implement this new technology to maintain and grow revenue streams from their enterprise customers. To differentiate themselves and enhance their competitive positioning, service providers need to offer a variety of SD-WAN based products combined with specialized security solutions and an ever-expanding portfolio of value-added services. To deliver these capabilities efficiently and scalably requires the latest in network functions virtualization technology. While deploying all these new technologies it is critical to make sure you are still able to meet your ongoing business, performance and cost requirements.

In this webinar we will:

Examine the increasing importance of SD-WAN in enterprise telecoms.

Discuss the upside and challenges facing service providers when delivering managed SD-WAN and value-added services.

Explore the critical role of orchestration in managing a portfolio of SD-WAN and security solutions.

Discuss how pre-integrated solutions can simplify implementation, reduce time to market and enable service providers to rapidly monetize SD-WAN, security and value-added services.

Many communications service providers are now well into their network functions virtualization (NFV) driven cloudification journey, which not only virtualizes and moves services to the cloud but also enables moving services and underlying compute platforms to the edge of the network. And this push to the edge will only intensify as 5G and related complementary technologies such as MEC are deployed in the next 24 months.

From a services perspective, both these technologies also are considered services-based in that they are focused on exposing service instances at the edge on an unprecedented level. As a result, security strategies and products such as firewalls must also evolve to meet these new services requirements. This webinar will consider the impact on firewalls, specifically how the edge and this services approach will redefine not only the role but also the architecture of next-gen firewalls (NGFWs).

Topics covered in this webinar will include:

How the 5G Service Based Architecture (SBA) core network and associated capabilities such as 5G slicing will drive new security enforcement firewall functionality

The security firewall requirements associated with managing the 5G cloud-distributed new radio (NR) access network

The implication of these technologies on existing cloud-based Firewall as a Service (FWaaS) deployments

Clavister’s product strategy for dealing with these new service-driven firewall requirements

The key to revenue growth for CSPs is the ability to rapidly create and deliver new services that differentiate and add business value. Introducing a new service has traditionally been a lengthy, manual process that was costly and error prone, requiring complex integrations that spanned multivendor environments.

Fortunately, advances in automated service provisioning are addressing many of these challenges, allowing service providers to deliver new services faster and more cost effectively. Key enablers include open API’s for easy integration with OSS/BSS systems and network devices, dry runs and automated health checks for service assurance and a UI based service creation platform that requires no programming or scripting.

This webinar, led by Heavy Reading analyst James Crawshaw, will explore how automated service provisioning is being used to accelerate the service creation, provisioning and delivery process, thereby enabling more innovation. Offering the perspectives of Affirmed Networks, a leader in NFV, the webinar will provide real-world examples of how operators are using automated provisioning platforms to drive revenue growth. There will also be a live demo showing:

How to use a single platform for defining service logic

How to avoid vendor lock-in with open APIs, north- and south-bound

How to reduce human error related to new service creation with robust service assurance

How to remove the need for costly custom development through service abstraction

Multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) technology offers many benefits for wireless communications by leveraging multiple antennas at both the source (transmitter) and destination (receiver). With the use of MIMO, multiple streams of data can be delivered simultaneously and transmit-and-receive diversity can be fostered.

Among the most powerful improvements enabled by MIMO is the ability to use precoding to "steer" the transmitted signals. One implementation of precoding, Beamforming, focuses the signal, leading to greater signal strength at the receiver. In another implementation of precoding, known as MU-MIMO (Multi-User MIMO), a single transmitter can send multiple data streams to multiple receivers without mutual interference between the different streams. In this case, precoding achieves the desired interference cancellation by steering parts of the signal away from an intended location.

In this webinar, we will discuss the different uses of precoding and highlight the importance of high-quality channel feedback to enable precoding. We will also present use cases in which maximum user performance can only be achieved by deploying MU-MIMO.

With Remote PHY all over the news, Comcast and most other cable operators are now planning to test and/or deploy the new access network platform. But, beyond the MSOs' various R-PHY working teams, there is still a lot of confusion and uncertainty about the technology. In this first part of a multi-webinar series, we will explain the business drivers behind R-PHY, how it will impact the access network in the short term, and what the evolving network will look like in the long term. We will also present a recommended structure for R-PHY testing over the entire lifecycle. In the next two webinars, we will dive deeper into such specific areas as headend/hub construction, fiber deployment, R-PHY turn-up & cutover, and ongoing maintenance of Distributed Access Architectures.

Software is indeed eating the world and changing industries forever… in the network world now, if it's not software defined, it's legacy. Though widely accepted to be an industry revolution and not just the latest marketing buzzword, adoption of software and network virtualization remains lower than expected. Why are CSPs struggling to make the shift to virtualized networks? Listen to Sterlite Tech's CEO (Software), Anshoo Gaur, as he delves deep into the reasons for the delayed adoption of SDN & NFV and articulates how CSPs can overcome these challenges going forward. This webinar will talk about:

Within the universe of automation, a subset of companies is now focused on delivering unique solutions to service providers that take full advantage of the very latest artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The skills of highly trained network engineers are impossible to completely replicate, but data can be leveraged to reduce their workload and augment their decision making. However, there is a daunting challenge: The huge data sets that network teams collect is rapidly increasing with the emergence of IoT and 5G, and it is more and more difficult for humans to analyze using standard tools due to the multi-variant data. Furthermore, with the rapidly changing nature of these real-time systems, rule-based solutions need constant manual updates; this defeats the ROI objective in the first place. Enter AI. We describe how AI can discover and interpret the complex, subtle relationships between events and suggest next best actions. With AI, operators are empowered to run their networks more efficiently and reliably.

Join this webinar to learn:

How AI can be applied to improve the efficacy and automation of network operations, including fault management, network alarm management, root issue analysis, predictive maintenance and utilization prediction

What the ROI is for investment in AI as it relates to improved performance, cost savings and better customer experience

Disaggregation in networking started with layer 3 routing but has quickly moved to optical networks, including into the optical line system, where the open line system (OLS) is of increasing interest to webscale providers as well as traditional network operators. This webinar focuses on disaggregation in the line system, including the value of disaggregated ROADM architectures for all types of service providers. Underscoring the importance of disaggregation in optics, we will be joined by two guest speakers. Facebook Director of Optical Engineering Matthew Mitchell and Charter Director of Advanced Engineering Chris Ellefsen will share views from their respective companies.

Topics covered in this webinar will include:

Benefits of Open Line systems (separating transponders from the line system)

SD-WAN has the potential to transform the way enterprises operate on a day-to-day basis by improving digital connectivity without breaking the bank. This webinar explains how Huawei can help enterprises: address their growing
bandwidth needs without increasing their bandwidth budget; take advantage of application-based intelligent traffic steering and WAN optimization technologies to optimize their cloud service experience; dramatically reduce
the time it takes to introduce new technologies and services through the deployment of universal CPE (uCPE); build, monitor and intelligently manage international networks; and more.

Mobile network operators preparing for rapid, near-term deployment of 5G RAN are designing network architectures that will scale to device and traffic densities and performance demands that are far beyond what is commonplace in LTE networks today. This is critical preparation for the 5G super-cycle that will enable operators to extend into diverse new service-types and markets over the next ten years and beyond.

An essential part of the new architecture is the transport network that provides connectivity between radio sites, edge data centers and cloud service providers. This webinar investigates this new transport architecture and the role that packet-based connectivity fabrics play in the performance of the 5G RAN and on revenue-generating end-user services.

Operators are struggling to manage their aging infrastructure, much of which has exceeded its intended life span and has become a serious operational strain. For years, operators had few architectural options for network modernization. Fortunately, circuit emulation (CEM) has emerged as a means of circuit-to-packet migration, though many operators may not be aware of its scalability or its benefits yet. This webinar will provide a practical tutorial on how CEM can be used for SONET/SDH migration today. In addition to the technical discussion, Verizon's Director of Optical Transport Network Architecture, Design and Planning, Glenn Wellbrock, will detail the operator's own network transformation from legacy SONET/SDH to IP.

Topics covered will include:

What are the largest pain points as operators struggle to maintain their legacy SONET/SDH networks?

What is circuit emulation and how can the technology be applied to the "SONET problem"?

Why did Verizon choose a CEM and IP/MPLS architecture and how are they implementing it today?

What is a practical blueprint for operators to follow as they move from TDM to IP networks?

The speed of current technological breakthroughs is disrupting almost every industry, fundamentally altering the way we live, work, and communicate with each other.

The World Economic Forum has framed recent technological revolution as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In parallel, the networking industry is following a similar revolution.

The First Network Revolution was the invention of telephone that introduced a new medium of personal communication.

The Second Network Revolution was the appearance of wide area network (WAN) and packet transport that brought the dawn of digital communication.

The Third introduced multiple networking protocols such as TCP/IP, SMTP, BGP; culminating with the introduction of consumer internet services, mass digitization, and cloudification.

The Fourth Network Revolution is building on the Third, characterized by the emergence of machine learning and artificial intelligence that automates the implementation, analysis, and operation of networks.

Advances in artificial intelligence are pushing us toward an economically feasible Self-Driving Network™. An autonomous network that will self-configure, monitor, manage, correct, defend, and analyze, all with minimal human intervention. It will also transform communication service providers (CSPs) into Digital Platform Providers, with an agile and data-driven infrastructure, enabling operational transformation and new service innovation.

Join us as Accenture and Juniper Networks explore the emerging technologies and business models accelerating the Fourth Network Revolution. Our experts will discuss the considerations and opportunities presented by multi-speed technology and operations, AI-driven assurance and software-defined Networking (SDN), and their role and impact in realizing the promise of the Self-Driving Network.

DevOps is a modern, agile way of working used in the IT sector and which is now being adopted by the telco world. It requires a change in work methods and behavior to create close collaboration between all involved parties. DevOps calls for tight cooperation throughout the application lifecycle and unlike traditional software development methodologies, relies on constant and immediate feedback at every stage of development.

In this webinar, Nokia will be covering the following:

How to achieve a similar DevOps target on the Telco industry as IT has reached today

What needs to be done to adapt the development, SW delivery and operational processes to build a collaborative relationship between operators and vendors.

We will also share with you the recent Heavy Reading findings on DevOps on the telco industry's trends.

Please join Michael Clever, Nokia Senior Vice President – Head of End to End Cloud Solutions and Gabriel Brown, Principal Analyst, Heavy Reading, to discuss how operators and vendors could join forces for a holistic approach to DevOps for the Telco industry.

Disruptive. Agile. Philosophies organizations must adopt to operate in our rapidly evolving world of connected everything. Yet IoT operating models and revenue streams are still unclear. For those organizations that don’t take advantage now and prepare, their indecision will become painfully evident. How can companies exploit the breadth of new opportunities within IoT right now, while remaining conservative about business risk and prepare for the onset of new technologies like 5G? How can they quickly incorporate radically new eco-system driven, multi-dimensional business models in a cost-effective manner?

In this webinar, using real world examples from our partnership with Arrow and global mobile network operators, CSG will provide insight into establishing a successful IoT program that sets the stage for monetization opportunities and sustainable growth...regardless of industry…as the digital economy becomes the norm.

Increasing customer demands and growing competition from platform/OTT players is forcing CSPs to transform. Some are launching new digital services. Others are adopting the platform approach themselves. Many are pursuing M&A to try to remain relevant.

A common goal is to ensure automated operations and agility to adapt to continuously changing market dynamics. But this can’t be achieved without transforming the digital core. Most CSPs still run rigid, legacy core systems. Those that have modernized have often ended up with heavily customized, inflexible solutions.

As CSPs migrate to the platform business model they must bundle core and partner services. A centralized product catalog plays a key role in allowing CSPs to dynamically offer third party services. Consistency in product information across all channels ensures a good customer experience pre and post-sale. A well-designed catalog can also ensure fulfilment automation.

While most CSPs realize the benefits of a centralized product catalog, migrating from the current set up can be a daunting challenge.

In this live webinar, we will share the experiences of transformation that our customers have been through, and how a next-generation, catalog-driven platform has been key to achieving their goals in the Business 4.0 era.

Every generation of mobile technology delivers new capabilities and improves network performance. 5G, however, is on a different scale altogether. Opportunities for growth go way beyond connectivity and mobile broadband, well into new areas such as vertical sectors and industrial applications.

Mobile transport is a fundamental building block for the 5G future and getting the architecture right is critical to deliver the ubiquitous services and flawless experience customers expect.

In this webinar, we outline some key challenges and opportunities of defining and delivering transport in the 5G era. We also explain how a comprehensive, end-to-end approach can address each provider's unique set of network and service requirements with an optimal mix of transport technologies and options that are right for them.

The specific topics would include:

Multiservice interconnectivity of the distributed core and network slices

The demand for 24×7 access to mobile Internet from any device continues to grow, and now it includes IoT devices. The challenge is that every device connected to a network is another potential security weakness. Concurrently, the evolution of 5G networks progresses, with a mass rollout set to begin in 2020. 5G promises to transform how mobile operators deliver services to consumers and businesses. Join us to learn how service providers can secure their network infrastructures, create new revenue-generating services by securing IoT devices and support the transformation of their security tactics as they transform to 5G networks and cloud-based models.

In a constantly-changing market, network providers must master even greater agility than previously thought possible. Critical to building a self-optimizing network is the ability to intelligently automate services across multiple domains and network layers. This is at the heart of what Ciena delivers as they partner with customers to realize the Adaptive Network. Is your network ready to adapt?

Join Kailem Anderson, Ciena’s Vice President of Product Management for Software and Services, as he sits down with Sterling Perrin, Principal Analyst at Heavy Reading. In this important conversation, Kailem shares the roadmap toward a network that is self-healing and self-optimizing.

Key takeaways from this Ciena webinar:

Learn how multi-domain orchestration, analytics, and service-path computation help make closed-loop automation possible

Understand the business impacts of multi-layer optimization including faster time to revenue, improved operational efficiency, and lower costs

Review use cases for Ciena’s industry-leading Blue Planet® software that make your network more adaptable to meet market demands

Today end users and enterprises generate and consume more data than an entire city would do till almost a decade ago! As data consumption explodes, service providers go under constant pressure to deliver hyper connectivity and ultra low latency. With fibre powering the future of hyper-connected lives, FTTx solutions are the perfect answer for ultra high speed last mile data connectivity enabling truly digital lives. However, CSPs across the globe are struggling with high per-home-pass cost to effectively implement highly dense fiberised network infrastructure.

The mass adoption of IoT and continued expansion of connected devices to mobile networks is increasing the risk factors for both industries that plan to deploy IoT and those network providers who need to provide secure connectivity over reliable transport networks.

But IoT injects additional complexity into the security equation due to the diverse nature of the device themselves, their massive footprint and complex monitoring requirements.

Accordingly, in this webinar will discuss how advanced capabilities within mobile networks and even MNVO network architectures can be leveraged to secure IoT deployments and how industries can take advantage of these technologies to protect their local IoT networks.

Specific subject areas to be addressed include:

Leveraging mobile networks to secure IoT applications

Leveraging private LTE networks and MVNOs to secure IoT applications

Securing local networks for Industrial IoT (IIoT) applications

How 5G, Automation and Security Are Impacting the Transformation Strategies of Leading Asian OperatorsDate: 7/17/2018
Sponsors: f5
View archived webinar

Communications services providers (CSPs) pursue digital transformation through new services, cloud migration, and virtualization. But talent shortages, pressure from cloud providers, lags in key technologies such as 5G and IoT, and the threat of security breaches create worry about future revenues. In this informative webinar, learn what perspectives Asia’s leading CSPs shared with F5 through a study conducted by analyst firm Ovum. Together with Ovum, F5 will reveal research on shared pain points and transformation best practices.

Join us on 17 July 2018 to learn about how Asia’s carriers are overcoming transformation turmoil to create business opportunities as digital service providers.

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques were used extensively in OFDMA-based 4G cellular communications. In 5G NR, beamforming-based multi-user MIMO techniques in mmWave and sub6 band have emerged as critical to delivering a significantly higher average and cell edge user experience. Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) relies upon antennas located at multiple locations and exploits spatial techniques to increase system performance. In this webinar, we will investigate how CoMP can be used to further enhance 5G in new use cases and verticals where extreme reliability and system performance are critical. One example is 5G NR spectrum sharing (NR-SS), where CoMP can be used for spatial domain spectrum sharing by multiple operators in the same geographical area. Another example is Industrial IoT, where the spatial separation of antennas as part of CoMP can be used to deliver ultra-reliable low latency communication services.

Redefining IT's role to Become the Innovative Engine of the CompanyDate: 7/10/2018
Sponsors: SAP
View archived webinar

In today's digital economy, many IT departments are treading a delicate path between trying to provide the business with the new technologies and services needed to quickly compete in this digital world and keeping existing technologies and services running ("keeping the lights on").

In order to free up more time, budget and resources to respond quickly to the needs of business and be seen as a value center, adopting new technologies to enable this transition is a must.
Cloud computing is an important element in this transition and specifically the adoption of a cloud platform (PaaS) which provides IT departments with the agility and ability to meet these challenges.

Join us for this webinar in which you will learn:

Why IT must redefine its role in the digital enterprise or risk becoming obsolete

How cloud computing, and more specifically cloud platforms, can enable IT to react quickly to business requirements, making IT a value center and not a cost center

How IT plays a pivotal role in accelerating a company's journey to digital transformation

Why the SAP Cloud Platform provides an enterprise cloud platform needed by IT to become the innovative engine of the company

DDoS attacks are one of the most devastating types of cyberattacks. While organizations strive to improve their defenses to prevent the next multi-vector attack, they must now also meet GDPR requirements to protect sensitive data.

Join us on this webinar with Jim Hodges, principal analyst at Light Reading, and Ahmad Nassiri, security solutions architect at A10 Networks, to learn about the current challenges of mitigating DDoS attacks and the most effective methods of detecting and preventing them.

This webinar will address:

Why some DDoS mitigation solution implementations fall short

What are the most effective DDoS prevention techniques

Real-world examples of organizations that have detected and mitigated DDoS attacks

The Telco Edge Is Coming: Are You Ready? Hear How Schneider Electric & ITS Fiber Are PreparingDate: 6/28/2018
Sponsors: Schneider-Electric
View archived webinar

The telco edge is emerging as the next frontier for data center compute environments. This webinar will discuss why telco companies are uniquely positioned to take advantage of the emerging edge compute phenomenon, as well as, the solutions and challenges facing edge compute environments. Finally, we will discuss the use cases for the deployment of an edge compute data center in a telco central office. Ready or not, the edge is coming to a telco near you. Join us to learn how you can take advantage to this emerging opportunity.

Wireless networks have been essential for industries for many years. Now, in a world in which new software-driven operating processes have the potential to revolutionize productivity across virtually all industrial sectors, it’s becoming more important than ever to connect people, machines and assets to business logic. In this webinar, we’ll discuss how OnGo, formerly known as CBRS, offers connectivity without compromise for CIOs in sectors with industrial use-cases, either as they seek to refresh existing WiFi and private land mobile systems or install new networks to automate and optimize their operations.

Digital transformation is having a profound effect on how organizations are re-evaluating their future networking needs. This not only impacts how they will deliver their own internal IT requirements, but also the approaches they need to take with any consumer facing services, especially given inevitable emergence of IoT technologies.

Enterprise CIOs are demanding a new security framework, one that provides a consistent approach to application and access security for both employees, consumers and Things. Citrix will demonstrate how its networking services can be quickly harnessed by service providers to create a powerful set of joint secure networking services that can break down the barriers to enterprise digital transformation and extend their relevance with customers in the future.

In this webinar, we will discuss:
- How digital transformation is impacting the future needs for networking – what this means to current capabilities and solutions, the challenges and opportunities from a service provider perspective
- How the shift of enterprise workloads to cloud and SaaS has a profound impact on networking architectures, economics and security – what attributes should next- generation networking services possess?
- How the fabric of the next-generation enterprise workspace cannot be distinct from the underlying network – what new collaboration opportunities emerge to extend service provider value beyond traditional services?

Currently, the development of network technology is driven by two main directions. First, the development of SDN technology; and second, the development of cloud, especially the trend of the integration between the cloud and the network. These are both driving the rapid evolution of network technology.

In traditional network technology, the first stage is native IP, with the goal being connectivity, and the second stage is to base the MPLS technology, it’s goal is for it to be multi-service bearing. Many technologies have been developed for tunneling and service. However, as the requirement changes and the service automation and other aspects are increasing, the traditional MPLS-based technologies become unsatisfactory. In this case, the segment routing technology is coming. It has the advantages of simplified network, high reliability and support for large-scale networks.

This talk will present the problem faced by traditional technologies in the new network requirements, and how segment routing solves these problems. At the same time, we introduce the latest progress of segment routing technology.

Specific Topics include:

The pain points of classic bearing network technologies

What is segment routing?

The next hop of the MPLS segment routing: SRV6

The Evolution of Identity Management – What Does It Mean for Service Providers?Date: 6/26/2018
Sponsors: HPE
View archived webinar

Efficiently managing the identity information of subscribers has always been a priority for telco operators. However, the evolution toward multi-devices and multi-services experience have forced Service Providers toward a more holistic approach of managing identities across different domains and technologies.

Accordingly, this webinar will examine the evolution of identity management documenting the drivers and timeline for service providers to expand their identity management network capabilities. In addition to network considerations, the webinar will also focus on identity management from a service delivery perspective capturing how progressive service providers are turning to an open management identity structure to enable them to move beyond a pure telco model to become facilitators of cross-device, cross-service personalized experiences in the digital identity age.

Topics to be addressed in this webinar include:

The drivers and timeline for service providers to expand their identity management capabilities.

Many governments around the globe are seeking to take advantage of mobile broadband technologies to improve the capabilities of emergency services communications. Several deployment models exist in which mobile network operators (MNO) and governments are partnering to provide network services and applications that will help meet the increasing demand to give first responders better situational awareness and improved responsiveness.

In this webinar, AT&T, CritComm Insights and Nokia examine the opportunity as well as the challenges around the delivery of mission-critical communications.

The agenda includes three major topics:

CritComm Insight will cover information about the importance of mission-critical data communications, technology status, global trends and the increasing role of MNOs.

As the public-private partner selected by the First Responder Network Authority to build and deliver FirstNet – America’s first nationwide communications platform dedicated to public safety – AT&T will provide a view into serving public safety and meeting its rigorous requirements.

Nokia will highlight some of the business considerations of interest to both MNOs and public safety agencies with regard to network deployment and operations.

More and more enterprises have started to realize that the real benefit of SD-WAN is about having a flexible way to connect enterprises' dynamic workload instantiated in various Cloud DCs closer to their clients to achieve superb user experience, data portability and app portability. Because of the ephemeral property of the selected Cloud DCs, the enterprise or its network service provider may not have the direct links to the Cloud DCs that are optimal for hosting the enterprise's specific workloads/apps. Under those circumstances, SD-WAN is a flexible choice to dynamically interconnect the enterprise on-premises data centers or branch offices to its desired Cloud DCs.

However, SD-WAN paths over public internet can have unpredictable performance, especially over long distances and cross state/country boundaries. Therefore it is highly desirable to place as much as possible the portion of SD-WAN paths over provider networks (e.g., enterprise's existing MPLS VPN) that have guaranteed SLA to minimize the distance/segments over public internet.

This talk will present the compelling use cases for SD-WAN, describe in detail the hidden issues in deploying SD-WAN and the complexity of configuration and management of the large number of IPsec tunnels needed by SD-WAN. Then we will introduce the technologies that can intelligently integrate SD-WAN with Carrier Grade VPN (e.g., MPLS-based) to achieve the optimal performance and flexibility that neither SD-WAN nor Provider VPN alone can achieve.

Specific Topics include:

The pain points of classic OTT SD-WAN solutions.

How network service providers can utilize SD-WAN to offer value-added services on top of their existing MPLS VPN services

Managed SD-WAN services are not about competing with MPLS services; instead, Managed SD-WAN service means to provide an optimal path over hybrid networks to dynamic locations

The detailed technologies in utilizing SD-WAN to achieve Underlay and Cloud DC overlay interconnect and covering the last mile without physical infrastructure

Desired network infrastructure amd analytic tools in order to support enterprises having workloads split between both Cloud DCs and on-premises DC.

Unrelenting traffic growth, together with broad cloud adoption, emerging IoT trends and 5G forecasts, are challenging the ability of network operators to efficiently scale their infrastructure, accelerate service delivery and introduce new service offerings.

Service providers are confronted by a conflicting set of needs: launch new services faster, dramatically reduce costs and ensure a differentiated service quality. Network automation is the only way to meet these needs, but automation has historically been expensive and time consuming to deploy. New cloud-native networks will change this dynamic but they are years away and providers cannot afford to wait. This webinar will address the reality of today’s physical legacy network and nascent virtual networks, delivering practical guidelines to make network automation projects faster and more cost-effective.

5G promises to change the way we live our lives, with unprecedented services and unparalleled user experiences. With the heavy expectations of delivering up to 1,000 times increased bandwidth, 100 times more connected devices and latency of less than 1ms, mobile operators will have to adopt "small cell networks" which strategically bring the network closer to the users. Small cells can be backhauled over copper, microwave or fiber. With fiber being the most scalable, secure and cost-effective option, it is expected to play a pivotal role in 5G rollout world over. Most leading telecom operators are committed to investing in fiber while governments are leading the way through policy and regulatory changes.

Network automation consists of a transformational journey that involves foundational changes in technology, processes and organizational culture. From a technology perspective, it is about using technology to augment or replace the manual tasks involved in configuring, managing and operating network equipment and the services that it supports. Furthermore, network automation is not a single technology, but rather a "Swiss army knife" of protocols, tools, methodologies and processes.

The scope of network automation may first appear daunting. As such, it would be helpful to think of automation as a journey, and to break this journey down into discrete, manageable phases. In this webinar, Telefónica, Juniper Networks and Heavy Reading will discuss the following key topics:

What are the stages of network automation?

Telefónica’s road to Self-Driving Network

What are the automation tools in each stage?

What are specific use cases?

Learn how service providers and enterprises alike are reaping benefits from network automation with different protocols, tools, methodologies and processes.

With 60-80% of technical support calls resulting in escalations, operations automation in the home network is an imperative for broadband providers, according to industry-first research from Incognito and Analysys Mason. The research quantifies significant operational efficiencies by introducing digital channels for home users, customer care, network operations, and looks at how these can improve the experience for residential subscribers.

Join Incognito and Analysys Mason on June 13 at 10:00 a.m. EST to learn:

Where to introduce home network operations automation to get maximum value;

How to reduce inbound technical support calls by a third, alleviate customer care escalations, and enjoy a 25% reduction in truck rolls;

How this will enable a differentiated and positive experience for digital home network subscribers.

The network equipment provider (NEP) market is going through a period of unprecedented change with advanced approaches including SDN and NFV. Change is happening, and fast.

So how do NEPs cope with exponential change? Through automation. This webinar will discuss programmability as the key to automation and ultimately in making devices more programmable. Attendees will learn:

The challenges with current programmability approaches to automation

The need for consistent data modelling language to model both configuration data as well as state data of network elements

How leveraging a standardized approach to programmability like NETCONF and YANG is critical to network automation

Network automation use cases

What Does 5G NR Bring to the Industrial IoT & the Factory of the Future?Date: 6/6/2018
Sponsors: Qualcomm
View archived webinar

The next industrial revolution, sometimes referred to as Industry 4.0, is already ongoing, fueled by technology advancements in big data, automation and cyber physical systems. To achieve their full potential, these new processes and operating models require high-performance connectivity. Ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) is a new set of 5G NR capabilities, expected for 3GPP Release 16, that can enable operators and enterprises to address a diverse range of high-performance industrial use-cases. This webinar will investigate 5G NR, including the support for private industrial networks and URLLC capabilities. Using the "factory of the future" concept as an example, it will show how 5G NR can help to transform industrial IoT by making it more dynamic, flexible and adaptable to market demand.

Among the topics to be covered in this session include:

Creating new opportunities for the industrial IoT such as replacing the wired industrial Ethernet

Performance requirements for control of industrial production equipment

CSPs are undertaking a massive transformation of their network architectures based on the paradigms of SDN and NFV. Although it is unfashionable to talk about the legacy and traditional network the fact is most operators are brownfield and modernizing the existing infrastructure to work in tandem with the new will be a key challenge. What CSPs need is a bridge between their existing network and the next-generation ideal they are striving toward. This bridge spans discovery, analysis, optimization, zero-touch provisioning and API-driven automation of the entire service delivery process, enabling traditional and hybrid services to be open and multivendor.

The webinar will cover the following points:

Current telecom automation trends and SDN deployment status

SDN is a great concept but if every vendor implements it in a unique way does your orchestration platform get bogged down with API integration?

How to make legacy, closed, network devices SDN-speakers to enable hybrid services to be open and multivendor?

What kind of tools, qualities and skills are required for a rapid and low-risk execution?

Register for this webinar to explore these questions and hear about potential solutions.

Rising customer expectations and intense competition are forcing operators to deliver tailored customer experiences with outstanding quality, despite the challenges inherent in complex multidomain networks. Data silos continue to block progress and traditional metrics for technologies such as VoLTE and 5G cannot be meaningfully applied. The massive scale of events and metrics to be analyzed can jeopardize the real-time promise of even the most robust deployments.

Challenging as it may be, operators worldwide are having great success applying modern analytics techniques to ensure the quality of experience for a wide range of service offerings across a multitude of network domains. Join us to explore real-life use cases that uncover actionable insights previously invisible to the operator, helping them make user-centric investment decisions, ensure QoS for network upgrades, automate operations and monetize network data. We'll address questions such as:

The emergence of lower-cost, high-volume white boxes along with standardized software APIs is a fundamental change that increases supplier choice and reduces cost for uCPE.

Virtualization platforms with open, scalable and optimized software enable lower hardware costs since fewer cores and less memory are needed to deliver the necessary performance. For effective service creation, CSPs must consider the necessary latency, throughput/performance and resiliency for their applications or services, and ensure that they are easily managed and orchestrated.

Operational considerations such as zero-touch provisioning, platform and VNF management does also have an impact on cost and thus need to be optimized. Value-adding capabilities enabled by deep packet inspection (DPI) like service function chaining (SFC) and dynamic traffic management are also key ingredients in an optimized solution.

Specific topics include:

Business and technical trends in the uCPE market

Cost structure of profitable uCPEs

Optimal combination of traffic throughput, RAM/memory footprint and number of cores

For many CSPs, today’s field testing is inefficient and technician productivity is low. This is impacting their ability to deploy new infrastructure fast enough to meet market demand. Inadequate testing can lead to service issues, delays, cost overruns, subscriber churn and reputational damage. Currently, many telcos waste excessive time on tests that generate low-quality data.

With test automation, the time to implement tests might be reduced by as much as 50% and the time wasted on post-test data entry could be eliminated entirely. Validation testing and test result analysis can get closer to real time. Furthermore, automation can increase the consistency and accuracy of test data both at collection and when inputting into field management systems. Reduced human error translates into higher QoE for customers and lower opex for the telcos.

Network operators need to ensure the fiber they lay today will deliver the bandwidth demands of the future. Automated data collection and analysis is the key to faster, more efficient first-time-right deployments.

A number of mobile operators have been able to sustain large mobile money operations for years. The ability to operate mobile money services profitably and reliably has always been the focus for mobile money management teams within operators. Even though mobile money services are expected to grow fast in the next few years, operators are still facing many challenges that stand in the way of generating substantial revenue from these services.

As an industry we need to find the right way to achieve business development and understand what can be achieved already, and where we need to focus to prepare for long-term success.

On behalf of Huawei, Ovum has conducted a survey of operators globally regarding mobile money. This 'state of the nation' survey will highlight where operators are really focusing their efforts, what capabilities they believe are important in this area, how to enable the ecosystem and where the greatest benefits can be achieved from the sustainable development of mobile money services. We will present the key results of the survey along with Ovum’s analysis and key takeaways.

Topology data is the key to finding the common causes behind service degradations and network faults. Using dynamic cross-domain topology, CSPs can easily scan networks for problems that affect large groups of users or equipment. Insights from the service topology, combined with real-time performance analytics, automates the most labor-intensive steps of the troubleshooting process allowing CSPs to achieve maximum operational efficiency.

IoT forecasts indicate that the overall market is exponentially increasing. Operators need to get ready quickly, offer various types of connectivity, and control investments at the same time. In this webinar, we look at the challenges that operators are experiencing in connecting devices and machines that are on the move as well as working across mobile networks, necessity to address these, and the approaches to do so.

Trends in IoT connectivity, including eSIMs and NB-IoT as well as software-defined network approaches will be discussed.

Topics also include:

The road to eSIMs – intro and differences

How eSIMs address IoT – potential of IoT market and how eSIMs address it

Communications service providers (CSPs) and enterprises are increasingly looking for ways to gracefully evolve existing business models to more agile cloud-native service models. Real-time communication applications are being re-architected and deployed in the cloud to improve time to value, scalability and profitability. According to one leading cloud provider, 90% of its customers have been actively evolving monolithic service architectures into containerized, dynamically managed microservices rather than building new cloud-native applications from scratch. Given that Session Border Controllers (SBCs) are foundational to both CSP and enterprise application delivery, it is imperative that virtual SBCs (vSBCs) embody the same cloud-native attributes to realize superior agility, performance and profitability.

This webinar will explore the impacts of cloud-native adoption on vSBCs and document why they are poised to play an even greater role in the cloud-native era.

Discussion will include:

Changes in the scale, service, signaling and security inherent with the shift to cloud-native vSBCs

Impacts of cloud-native attributes in a carrier vSBC context

Impacts of cloud-native attributes in an enterprise vSBC context

Key takeaways

Intent Based Networking and Automation for the Digital Age - How to Build a Network Today that Will Meet the Demands of TomorrowDate: 5/8/2018
Sponsors: CENX
View archived webinar

To manage the growing onslaught of digital services and devices, service provider networks require new levels of intelligence, automation, and agility. Intent-based networking systems (IBNS) promise to deliver greater control through a mix of automation, machine learning, and predictive analytics. The future of service assurance will equip networks with the ability to learn, evolve, predict, and respond to changing demands in real time.

In this webinar, CENX will cover the key service assurance concepts behind intent-based networks and how they can help reduce service on-boarding time and enable automation.

Join us as we share our findings from working with some of the world’s largest and most innovative service providers – because building the superior networks of tomorrow depends on making the right choices today.

This month, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) initiative will become law and subject to regulatory compliance enforcement. In order to ensure complete adherence to this legislation, Communications Service Providers (CSPs) must prepare themselves on several fronts.

The first step for CSPs will be to work with their suppliers and vendors to ensure access to the latest tools and support needed to adequately protect data. While these tools requirements differ from CSP to CSP, there are some common requirements and a base of tool capabilities that will simplify the process and ensure the greatest measure of implementation success.

Accordingly, this webinar will focus on the best practices, toolsets, and optimal platform strategy methodology vital for the creation and execution of an effective and sound business GDPR implementation strategy. In addition, the session will address some of the common and related outstanding questions and challenges specific to data management, visibility, and risk management.

The webinar will also include a presentation of key findings from a recent Heavy Reading custom research project sponsored by Nokia which provided detailed insight into data protection and security trends.

The mass adoption of virtualized services for critical infrastructure applications is driving a major shift in the design requirements of the underlying software platforms that support service delivery. One of the most visible changes is the adoption of virtualized software platforms that ensure ultra-low latency performance for near-real-time applications such as industrial control, connected cars and the telecom network edge.

Whether deployed in on-premises infrastructure or private clouds, these software platforms now transcend the telco domain and will require the adoption of new security software design methodologies to meet the diverse and complex needs of securing critical services in multiple industries.

This webinar will explain the complex requirements associated with securing critical infrastructure applications, including the dynamic patching and operational management design tradeoffs of software virtualization platforms.

Specific topics include:

Emerging business opportunities in telecom, automotive and industrial control markets

CSP networks are undergoing a transition from legacy physical components to a new, virtualized infrastructure. During this transition, there will be a lengthy period during which a complex hybrid of physical and virtualized networks will co-exist. This hybrid network environment demands speed and agility in the provisioning and deployment of new services in both the virtualized and traditional environments.
In this webinar, learn how CSPs plan to address NFV challenges and the key success factors required for a real-time and dynamic service assurance solution for NFV, and how InfoVista’s VistaInsight can help maximize the value of the hybrid networks, and enhance service agility.

What service assurance capabilities do CSPs value the most?

What are the real-time techniques for data acquisition and analysis?

How can telemetry services and orchestration support real-time analytics?

Which Open APIs ensure interoperability for a successful transition to virtualized networks?

How can service assurance accelerate VNF onboarding?

What's the role of dynamic service modelling in accurate orchestration?

There is little doubt that the number of cyber attacks is on the rise. However, these attacks are also more virulent given they are now leveraging automation techniques to widen their dispersion reach.

In response, service providers must also revisit security implementation strategies to help them proactively defend against this ever-expanding landscape that will only enlarge as IoT and 5G are commercialized. To provide effective countermeasures, to deal with a wide range of attack types such as DDoS and botnet attacks and to effectively fight fire with fire, service providers must also ramp up the integration of security automation to deli
ver the ability to collect and effectively utilize advanced threat intelligence data in real time.

Accordingly, this webinar will focus on the role of automation, and how it can be most effectively implemented to meet the security requirements of next-generation networks. Specific topics to be addressed include:

The business and technical risks of not embracing automation

The rise of botnet attacks – why it's happening and how to mitigate the impacts

Is your network ready for the next big wave in demand? In the era of the empowered digital user, content is king and 5G and IoT will create a tidal wave of new data. Networks will need to dynamically and automatically respond to rapid changes. Legacy processes and systems won’t allow you to compete.

Over the last few weeks, Ciena has introduced you to the Adaptive Network framework – a network that scales to meet demand through automation guided by analytics and intent-based policies.

Join Light Reading's Founder, Steve Saunders, and Ciena's Stephen Alexander, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology officer, for our next webinar, in which we dive into three new real-world case studies.

Through these use cases, Steve will explain how the Adaptive Network can not only help you respond to today's business challenges, but also scale to meet the next wave of demand that's coming. All while providing the critical closed-loop control and automation needed to deliver a superior customer experience.

How do you scale for the next giant demand wave? You build a network that can adapt.

4G LTE caused a tipping point where wireless connections, now faster than wires, became a legitimate enterprise-grade WAN source. Since then, enterprises have leveraged this technology to make money, save money, and create competitive advantages for themselves. 5G promises exponential improvements to 4G in many ways through leveraging advances in distributed computing at the edge.

In this webinar on April 30 at 9 a.m. PDT, Lindsay Notwell, Cradlepoint’s SVP of 5G Strategy and Global Carrier Operations, will explain these changes, discuss the pathway to 5G, highlight significant milestones along the way, and explore how this will impact service delivery and security for enterprise networks. Learn what’s hype and what’s not, when to expect what, and how best to prepare for the next generation of communication technologies.

We are entering the era of ABC (AI, Big Data, Cloud) technologies and ROADS (Real-time, On-Demand, All Online, DIY, Social) user models as critical tools for enterprises to remain competitive. As a result, business needs are constantly and rapidly evolving, while data center environments are becoming more complex behind the scenes. Over the last five years, network failure rates have increased 18x, cloud data center traffic has increased 300%, and the scale of server workloads being deployed has evolved from several hundred to tens of thousands.

We invite you to join our webinar on April 25 where we will look at the future of data center networks, sharing valuable insight into:

The benefits of service deployment within minutes driven by intelligent automation

How to extend productivity by reducing single failure recovery times by up to 62%

What your data center network needs to be ready for the next generation of data center technologies like 25GE, high-density converged platforms, and Solid State Storage Arrays to support next-gen applications like IoT, big data, and artificial intelligence

How your business can make better decisions faster by reducing complex business intelligence computation times using AI by up to 40%

Network providers are struggling to keep pace with escalating demand. Rapid traffic increases and the threat of network performance failures have put a premium on automation. But it's important for providers to maintain control of their networks as they automate. How can an automation platform help remove obstacles and still give the control providers need to accelerate the business?

The right policy framework is critical. Intent-based policy can guide automated decision-making to deliver on a more adaptive network. Automation platforms like Ciena's Blue Planet can equip providers with the means to enforce business rules through best-in-class policy capabilities.

In this webinar, Ciena will discuss the importance of intent-based policies and how they are investing in Blue Planet's policy capabilities to help providers realize more adaptive networks.
Watch this webinar to learn how you can harness the power of automation while staying in command of your network's performance.

Nowadays, enterprises of all sizes are following an apparent trend: Digital connectivity is being extended from office applications to production and operations, which will generate greater business value. However, complex network access scenarios, diversified user terminals and various environmental factors pose great challenges on WiFi network O&M. In particular, user experience cannot be guaranteed due to the frequent occurrence of the following issues:

Users fail to access the network despite the access signal being very strong.

Users cannot be authenticated after they have connected to the network.

Applications (such as payment applications) keep failing, even though the users have been authenticated.

The network is faulty, and a user complaint is submitted. However, it is impossible to quickly locate the root cause of the fault.

To help address these concerns, Huawei recently announced its latest Intent-Driven CloudCampus solution that provides intelligent O&M for networks.

We cordially invite you to our online webinar "Reshaping Your Campus Network by Intent-Driven CloudCampus". During this webinar, you will gain insight into the following:

What challenges will campus networks face in the intelligent era?

How will Huawei Intent-Driven CloudCampus enable and accelerate the digital transformation of enterprises?

How can enterprises implement real-time experience awareness of many users and applications on the WiFi network, locate faults and perform automatic optimization? (Note: Intuitive demonstrations will be available.)

The Industrial Internet of Things or Industry 4.0 is emerging as one of the lead markets for communications service providers (CSPs) to provide not only connectivity but also value-added services.

In this webinar, Aricent and Heavy Reading will explore why artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) and applications such as augmented reality and intelligent edge compute architectures are essential components of these value-added services.

Understand how the advancement in these technologies is impacting data models, and security aspects for device data tiering, analytics and workload divisions. Learn how to leverage these technologies to create solutions for Industrial IoT and other verticals. Understand the use cases in the areas of process improvement, industrial security, anomaly detection, equipment efficiency, predictive maintenance, worker safety, assisted repairs and several others.

Join us to discover how hosted models for CSPs can leverage the application of these technologies and the business-case rationales and factors that influence adoption in small and medium-sized operations.

Mobile service providers are facing unprecedented security challenges and threats as they focus on the industry's transition to 5G, broad-scale deployment of network, functions virtualization (NFV), software-defined networking (SDN) technologies and the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices. In response, service providers must adopt new, innovative architecture approaches in their networks that deliver superior levels of scalability, performance and application intelligence.

The webinar will first look at security market trends for service providers based on Heavy Reading custom research sponsored by A10 Networks. It will then consider in detail security-driven platform requirements focusing on the value proposition of consolidating vital network functions such as Gi/SGi firewall, CGNAT, application visibility, integrated DDoS protection and more to create a new class of Gi/SGi FW. We will then showcase solutions that enable service providers to enhance their business models, while confidently introducing differentiated revenue-generating offerings to service growing subscriber needs

Topics that will be addressed in this webinar:

Security vulnerabilities in the era of 5G and IoT

How to achieve Gi/SGi LAN efficiencies

Methods to strengthen security postures in mobile networks

Use cases and solutions for differentiating service offerings

The webinar will conclude with an overview of A10 Networks convergent services platform which integrates these key functions on a single common platform.

Over the last decade, cloud technology leaders have redefined infrastructure operations paradigms to manage large-scale ecosystems with a high degree of automation. Today, these same principles can be applied to network management, moving beyond basic scripting and modeling to greater programmability that leverages analytics and AI.

With the rapid growth in data traffic, networking technologies and complex workloads, engineers for communications service providers (CSPs) are under constant pressure to continually evolve their networks and ensure they meet demands. To address these ever-increasing needs, many network professionals have already started down the road to network automation, but some are still considering their first steps. Both groups face a long list of challenges as they establish and maintain an automated network that will fulfill business demands for change and innovation.

This webinar will address the top ten challenges CSPs face when automating for the first time or when increasing and optimizing their existing automation efforts. The presenters will provide expert tips on how to identify and overcome these challenges, while simplifying management of a wide range of network automation tools and orchestrators.

In this session, you'll learn how to:

Overcome short-term thinking that can lead to an undesirable hodgepodge of network tools

Network operators know what they want. They want networks that are more agile, less costly and deliver an incredible customer experience for business or consumer applications. What isn't as obvious is how to get there. And more importantly, where to begin the journey.

Autonomous networking has been at the forefront of this discussion. However, automation is only part of the story. Providers require a network that will give the right response where and when needed. A network that can adapt.

In this webinar, Ciena will share key insights on how other companies have begun this journey and provide examples of how to achieve the end-state of an Adaptive Network utilizing:

Software control and automation

Analytics and intelligence

Programmable infrastructure

Along with the right expertise, each plays a critical role in the evolution to a more open, flexible and cost-efficient network infrastructure.

This webinar will expose how these components can be applied, individually and/or collectively today – allowing providers to deliver the responsiveness, agility and cost savings their customers demand.

The rapid evolution of mobile and cable networks is creating challenges for operators. Next-generation service architectures – such as CRAN, vRAN, eCPRI, fronthaul, Central Office Re-architected as a Datacenter (CORD), and DOCSIS 3.1 – rely on precise timing to enable reliable high bandwidth services. Operators need flexible, resilient architectures that readily support this changing environment.

This webinar will discuss the importance and the challenges of key aspects of timing and synchronization that mobile and cable operators must consider. The speakers will also explore why a gateway clock capable of supporting connectivity to legacy networks, as well as to the latest standards, is an essential element in network deployments for 4G, 5G and beyond.

In this webinar, we will cover the latest hot testing process for resolving cable shielding integrity and ingress/egress issues with -- in-home pressure testing. Using a roundtable discussion format, experts from Viavi Solutions will spell out the benefits of pressure testing the home network while the cable technician is in the home for either installation or service. While this quick, simple pressure test allows cable operators to tackle many issues, it is primarily focused on suppressing the impact of ingress on the network and the impact of LTE interference inside the home. Hence, fill two needs with one deed!

In today’s networking environment when cybercriminals can leverage the cloud and the Internet of Things to unleash mayhem on ICT infrastructure, protecting against DDoS attacks is a critical requirement for internet and cloud service providers. Today's IP networks are part of the problem as they rely heavily on costly DDoS scrubbing centers and specialized network security appliances. Nokia's innovative approach flips this around by making the IP network part of the solution. By combining the forces of Deepfield cloud and network insight with the world's first 2.4 Tb/s network processor, FP4 routing silicon, Nokia delivers more effective DDoS protection at lower cost than traditional approaches.

In this webinar you’ll learn:

The changing landscape of DDoS defense

Operator challenges of protecting their networks against volumetric DDoS attacks

The role and value proposition of Deepfield in quickly detecting and mitigating attacks

The role and value proposition of FP4 routing silicon to efficiently filter harmful traffic at the network edge without degrading service

The ROI achieved by deploying a smarter network fabric

To read the Heavy Reading whitepaper on “A new DDoS architecture for volumetric attacks” please

The deployment of Fiber Deep and remote PHY will change the way traditional HFC networks are installed, tested and troubleshooted, especially from an optical layer point of view. This session will highlight the main challenges such as a high count of new fibers to be rolled out, MPO connections, dealing with multiple optical wavelengths and Ethernet services validation.

In this session, you will learn:

How to minimize turn-up failures and troubleshoot the optical layer quickly

Industry's best practices for fiber characterization, troubleshooting and Ethernet service validation

Data centers have become the epicenter of the digital world, and thus continue to grow in speed and complexity, from gigabit Ethernet to 10G, 40G, 100G and now 200G. This unprecedented growth has driven the development of new architectures and technologies in fiber networks that have also introduced new challenges for technicians and operators as they strive to meet the growing network demands.

In this webinar, attendees will learn how to test some of the latest techniques and applications that data center technicians are utilizing to ensure the best performance of their fiber networks, including:

Cable operators seeking to expand their presence in the $150 billion US commercial services market have reached a crossroads. On the one hand, they want to move upmarket and capture a greater share of enterprise business from the large incumbent telcos. But on the other hand, they need to protect their flank against inroads in the SMB market made by smaller, more nimble insurgents. And, in order to do so, operators must develop and deploy new disruptive technologies, retool their networks and operations, and adapt to rapidly changing market conditions.

How do cable operators plan to accomplish all this? In this webinar, Light Reading will delve into MSOs' strategies for maintaining their business services growth momentum. Drawing on exclusive research conducted by Broadband Success Partners' David Strauss, we will look at how cable providers are planning to shift their focus, transform their networks, introduce new products and services and overhaul their customer care operations.

Our panel will feature Strauss and leading executives from Mediacom, WOW, Ciena and Corning examining the new business services opportunities and challenges that cable operators face. This discussion will help you make smarter product, technology, marketing and sales decisions.

Existing service operations centers (SOC) have been the heartbeat of network operations for many years. Integrating OSS, BSS, CRM and network device and services data has allowed operators to view, in real time, the performance of the network and deliver a unified view of the customer experience.

Up until now, this system has been a set of manual process that is time consuming and costly. In addition, it is difficult to keep up with the constant changes in existing services and support the addition of new services such as SD-WAN. This problem will only get worse as the industry moves to virtualization.

This webinar will explore how operators can mitigate the problems in the SOC as they move from a physical to hybrid and eventually a fully virtualized environment through automation of the critical functions. This session will cover everything from network and test configurations that assist in accelerating service delivery while eliminating human error, to deploying automated root cause analysis, to a fully closed loop automated environment that uses KPIs from the network to make meaningful changes improving service quality and improved subscriber satisfaction.

As network providers deal with unprecedented complexity — millions of subscribers, applications, and services inundating their networks with requests every second of every day—the question on everybody’s mind is: Is automation alone enough?

Automation has become mission-critical, but running the next-generation network requires a major shift in our view of complexity—not as a fearsome foe, but as a treasure trove of business opportunity.
Join Ciena’s VP of Portfolio Marketing, Rebecca Prudhomme, and Light Reading's CEO and Founder, Steve Saunders, for an insightful discussion that will look beyond automation to a more holistic view of what’s needed to succeed in our market reality. We’ll look closely at the next step in network evolution through a strategic vision from Ciena called the Adaptive Network.

SaaS-based applications are the choice of many enterprises looking to replace traditional apps that were hosted in their own data center. SaaS provides flexibility and choice when it comes to enterprise-grade applications and reduces some administrative challenges by offloading them to the vendor.

But SaaS is not without its challenges.

Specifically, SaaS makes it more complicated to bring applications to branch offices. Older technologies such as WAN doesn't cut it anymore, and service providers are looking for new ways to connect offices to the apps that workers need.

It's a challenge for IT as well, since SaaS provides a lot of flexibility but admins still want a sense of control of the data.

This is where SD-WAN is proving that it has something to offer to IT, enterprises and service providers. Join Citrix and Enterprise Cloud News as they explore what SD-WAN means for the modern enterprise, how it provides security and connectivity when it comes to SaaS, how to improve the user experience and how service providers can offer SD-WAN to customers as a service.

Demands for greater bandwidth and speed are driving a global increase in fiber to the home (FTTH). However, this demand for network infrastructure does not always come paired with a corresponding increase in fiber expertise. In the real world, fiber is installed in harsh environments and is vulnerable to a number of faults. The need for testing is real, but to achieve fast and profitable deployments, workflow efficiency must be addressed. Charlene Roux, global product line manager for OTDR with VIAVI, walks webinar attendees through recommendations for successful, consistent deployment and maintenance of FTTH/PON networks without requiring special training or expertise.

This webinar will explore how open architectures can address these challenges and more, helping to make the vision of on-demand service delivery a reality. As a proof point, speakers will highlight the MEF17 Services on Demand Proof of Concept based on open architectures and involving carrier participation from AT&T, Colt and Orange, along with a number of software and hardware vendors.

Design of next-generation virtualized networks for the digital service provider has largely stalled as telcos struggle with the complexity of the task before them. Conventional approaches don't support key strategic objectives (service velocity, DevOps automation and business agility). The degree of hard-code and manual integration to make anything work at all is not scalable; initial solutions are simply too static and bloated to be practical. CSP transformation initiatives are in desperate need of technological innovation. The industry requires new "middleware" between the products and user experiences they want to deliver and the underlying applications, services, resources and processes that fulfill them.

The webinar will feature a product demonstration showing how customers using EnterpriseWeb can onboard any heterogeneous VNF or PNF, compose them into any arbitrary network service, and deploy them with any diverse target environment (multi-VNFM, multi-cloud, multi-VIM) – with no hard-coding or manual integration! The demo will go on to show how their software dynamically responds to events and how services can be reconfigured using simply metadata.

Achieving 5G for commercial markets requires major innovation in the architecture for wireless infrastructure basestations… and the key is in phased-array-based technologies.

The current generation of wireless basestations rely on multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) antennae configurations of two to eight antennas to multiply the capacity of antenna links – boosting overall efficiency and throughput. To provide the requisite data rates for 5G, basestations will now require anywhere from 64 to hundreds of antennas to be arrayed in a "massive MIMO" (M-MIMO) configuration, which can deliver full-channel capacity by reusing the same frequency and time resources, provided they have compact front-end solutions delivering optimal RF and thermal performance.

When it comes to the architecture and assembly of massive MIMO 5G systems, we see many parallels with the new generation of Multifunction Phased Array Radar (MPAR) active antennae systems targeted for air traffic control and weather system tracking applications. These applications share the 2.6 to 3.5 GHz frequency and antenna architecture, leveraging Scalable Planar Array Tiles (SPAR) to integrate the antenna and RF front-end modules into a single multilayer RF board using accelerated processes to minimize yield risks. And while you might not typically associate this class of radar system with cost-sensitive commercial applications like 5G, you might be surprised to learn that MPAR technology leverages design and manufacturing efficiencies that dramatically reduce the cost of the end system.

SPAR Tile technology, developed in collaboration between MACOM and MIT Lincoln Laboratory, embodies a new cost-conscious approach to phased array radar system development, leveraging highly integrated antenna sub-systems and volume-scale commercial packaging and manufacturing techniques, enabling the transition from cumbersome traditional brick architectures to a more efficient planar approach. The design and assembly techniques used for the tile array MPAR address both communications and sensing applications, enabling active antenna capability at a cost point that makes this technology viable for a wide range of commercial use cases.

The drive to 5G for CSPs is about deploying a network that provides unprecedented levels of data speed, ultra-low latency networks and the ability to deliver a connected world where billions of things will require connectivity to a highly reliable network. While the first specification for 5G was recently ratified by 3GPP, Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) is ideally positioned to be a bridge for CSPs wanting to leverage their existing infrastructure to deploy low-latency, high-bandwidth services closer to the edge and the eventual roll out of 5G networks. By providing near real-time cloud-computing capabilities at the network edge, MEC allows applications to leverage ultra-low latency services and real-time access to network information improving the subscriber experience and enabling CSPs to foster more innovation.

With a MEC architecture, CSPs are uniquely positioned to drive the adoption of next-gen applications at the network edge, including CDN, DNS and service caching, 5G and IoT telemetry, mobile traffic shaping, location services, video analytics, augmented reality and connected cars. Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is a key technology that enables CSPs to optimize their network architecture for MEC. NFV architectures will enable CSPs to monetize new market verticals by offering more differentiated and valuable services while gaining the advantages of speed and agility in delivering these services faster to market.

In this webinar, learn how VMware can deliver a MEC solution based on VMware vCloud NFV and how CSPs can:

Unlock new business models with MEC

Automate the on-boarding of VNFs in central and distributed data centers at the edge

Improve subscriber user experience

Gain valuable insight of all deployed service components and analytics for continuous network improvement

Service provider networks are on the verge of significant and lasting change. Driven by performance and scalability demands, leading operators have started to re-architect their networks for the 5G-era by distributing cloud infrastructure to network edge locations. This webinar will investigate how advanced 4G and 5G services will influence the design, deployment and operation of this new network architecture and how software-centric networks enable operators to innovate and rapidly address new opportunities.

Over the past several years, the move to the cloud has changed how enterprise IT works. Now, the growing trend toward multi-cloud is about to upend the business world again.

With enterprises using multiple cloud vendors, and entrusting more and more of their applications to SaaS, businesses and their IT departments are looking to find new and better ways to optimize their networks for this new world, as well as rethinking their infrastructure architecture.

Along the way, there are other questions: How can the company optimize transport costs? How is the data best delivered to branch offices? Is the network secure?

One way enterprises are trying to answer these concerns is through SD-WAN, a newer technology that is helping to deliver SaaS-based applications to remote and satellite offices with better speed, security and efficiency than the legacy WAN.

Join Versa Networks and Enterprise Cloud News for a live webinar where we'll explore how multi-cloud is changing IT infrastructure and how IT is managing this new infrastructure. We'll see how IT is designing networks to support any number of cloud infrastructures and services, as well as using these technologies to gain new insights and visibility into the network. We'll also investigate how SD-WAN can help enterprises take full advantage of the cloud, connecting apps to the people who need them, and bringing a layer of security to ensure the integrity of the business and the network.

Optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) is a key metric of signal quality in DWDM networks. Over the years, the adoption of new technologies like reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexers (ROADM) and coherent transmission have rendered existing OSNR measurement methods obsolete. In this webinar, we will first review the importance of OSNR as a key performance indicator of system performance. We will then discuss the existing OSNR methods, and why they cannot be used on live coherent signals. We will then introduce a novel method to measure non-intrusively the OSNR of 100G+ coherent signals, EXFO’s in-service Pol-Mux OSNR method.

Five years on from the initial NFV white paper, leading operators have moved beyond the proof of concept and trial phase to widespread deployment of virtualized network functions. The challenges they now face are how to make those network functions more "cloud native," and how to increase the level of automation throughout the lifecycle of a service chain from initial installation, testing and provisioning, to ongoing software updates and self-healing of VNFs.

In this webinar, Accanto Systems and IBM will explain how NFV service design, test and deployment tasks should be coordinated across service engineering and operations to bring new services into production with a high degree of confidence while maintaining high service levels despite the highly dynamic nature of NFV.

Service designers and engineers need DevOps and software lifecycle tools to create pre-production environments where they can test service on-boarding and accelerate production break-fix scenarios. At the same time, operations staff require similar tool chains to manage the ongoing maintenance of services and their component VNFs. To achieve high levels of automation in operations will require a transition from today's manual processes to more simplified, intent-driven operations. By sharing common tools, engineering and operations can better collaborate to deliver and maintain more reliable NFV-based services.

Focusing on the popular vEPC use case, the webinar will demonstrate tools that can automate service, design and deployment tasks across test and production environments. Example tasks Accanto Systems and IBM will demonstrate include:

Management of pre-production virtual environments

Automated service level testing

Continuous deployment across pre-production and production environments

Service provider and enterprise networks are becoming increasingly complex and dynamic as they are stretched to support 5G, Internet of Things, SDN and virtualization. A lack of agility in current network technology is leading to risky vulnerabilities and costly outages. Telecom industry thought leaders see a future of autonomous networking, where networks manage themselves through a seemingly magical combination of intent-based networking and machine learning. This futuristic vision may appear dauntingly complex and expensive, but the reality is that the automation journey is easier than you think, and one you can start on today.

This webinar will explore how intent-based verification can be a practical first step towards autonomous networks, providing a new level of awareness of the entire state of the network, and of how that state supports business goals. Intent-based verification can provide automated, mathematically-rigorous assurance that these goals can be met, improving the resilience and security of existing networks while supporting evolution towards the autonomous network of the future.

Network complexity not only increases IT costs, but can also create network fragility and security risks. Recent approaches to reducing network complexity through Software Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) offer some short-term relief, but are still largely based on decades-old network paradigms that only create more complexity in the long run.

Session Smart Networking is different. Session Smart networks can by truly simplify the network, as well as provide a breadth of SD-WAN capabilities – including application visibility, software-define branches, multi-path routing and network segmentation. As a result, organizations using a Session Smart approach can realize breakthrough gains in performance, agility, security and scale.

In this webinar, 128 Technology and Light Reading will discuss the benefits of session-smart routers in SD-WAN deployments, which include:

A tunnel-free architecture that eliminates the 20% to 30% bandwidth tax incurred by overlay encapsulation and enables full mesh any-to-any routing for services.

Automation is a key plank in telco transformation but many communications service providers (CSP) are still in planning mode as they seek to determine how best to implement new technologies such as Network Function Virtualization (NFV). The concept of closed-loop assurance promises to automate the high volume of repetitive, operational processes that the dynamic environment of NFV entails. But what does it take to get started to achieve network virtualization and service operations that manage themselves?

One way to start is by consolidating legacy network management tools onto a single platform. This can provide a future-proof foundation for service assurance and a single source of truth for troubleshooting or root cause analysis. This is particularly important when on-boarding new technologies such as NFV.

Additionally, machine learning and artificial intelligence can yield fresh insights for operations and service management enabling new automation opportunities. This webinar will examine the major pain points associated with AI/ML and automation in organizations today and where the greatest potential lies.

Join experts from industry research firm Heavy Reading, service assurance solution providers Federos and artificial intelligence and process automation pioneers Arago as they explore the benefits of consolidating systems and artificial intelligence to enable greater service scalability.

5G promises to change the way we live our lives, with unprecedented services and unparalleled user experience. Operators need to build an underlying connectivity infrastructure that is capable of delivering on demands like ultra-low latency and hyper-flexible bandwidth. This webinar will focus on the most critical aspects of the 5G transport network and discuss what is required in terms of slicing, edge computing and the need for openness and interworking. Addressing each of these aspects properly will enable operators to offer state of the art 5G services that will be the foundation of what some people believe will become the 4th industrial revolution.

In this webinar we will discuss:

What factors and demands will influence the infrastructure design

The impact of 5G on connectivity infrastructure and network requirements

Net Promoter Score (NPS) has become a leading metric for monitoring customer experience in the telecom sector as well as many other industries. Improving NPS can reduce customer churn, increase market share and revenue and it's one of the KPIs that's closely tracked by operator management teams.

Operators who focus on NPS prediction and customer personas can overcome the limitations of static and subjective NPS survey data. Accurate prediction of dissatisfied customers enables operators to take closed loop corrective actions, e.g. improving network or service quality to increase the number of promoters and NPSs.

We all know that telcos have access to a lot of data, but how to leverage that to truly impact the business continues to be a challenge. In this webinar, you'll learn how starting with a modern data platform sets the stage for revolutionizing how the business is run. You'll also hear about specific use cases, including how smart data is being leveraged, today, to gain granular insights into revenue leakage points to optimize margins and drive overall profitability.

With operators under pressure to deliver ever-higher Quality of Experience (QoE) of services to their subscribers whilst ensuring opex and capex efficiencies, this webinar examines the role of drive testing and benchmarking to provide the reliable end-user insight needed for intelligent network investment decisions. Furthermore, it looks at the factors influencing accuracy and reliability of data acquisition and data analytics and how correct measurement equipment and technique can enable the efficient delivery of better services and higher quality to customers.

In this webinar, you will learn:

What is network benchmarking from an end-user perspective and what are its applications

What factors influence the quality of data acquisition and data analytics

The role of network test in future networks compared to OSS data analytics and crowdsourcing

How to assess the quality of a mobile network during a drive test campaign

The path from drive test data to network insights for network investment decisions

This webinar is being offered at an additional time for your convenience.

Click here to register for this webinar on December 14th at 10am London / 2pm Dubai / 6pm Singapore

With operators under pressure to deliver ever-higher Quality of Experience (QoE) of services to their subscribers whilst ensuring opex and capex efficiencies, this webinar examines the role of drive testing and benchmarking to provide the reliable end-user insight needed for intelligent network investment decisions. Furthermore, it looks at the factors influencing accuracy and reliability of data acquisition and data analytics and how correct measurement equipment and technique can enable the efficient delivery of better services and higher quality to customers.

In this webinar, you will learn:

What is network benchmarking from an end-user perspective and what are its applications

What factors influence the quality of data acquisition and data analytics

The role of network test in future networks compared to OSS data analytics and crowdsourcing

How to assess the quality of a mobile network during a drive test campaign

The path from drive test data to network insights for network investment decisions

This webinar is being offered at an additional time for your convenience.

Click here to register for this webinar on December 14th at 5pm London / 12pm New York / 9am San Francisco

5G network technologies will demand extreme bandwidth and, for some critical use-cases, ultra-low latency. To achieve those objectives a new distributed RAN and access network architecture is being developed that should meet demanding capex, opex and performance requirements.

This new architecture introduces RAN functional splits that impact how operators will deploy, optimize and assure the network, and will open up new interfaces for near-real-time radio analytics and optimization. Using techniques such as virtualized RAN and dynamic resource allocation, it enables tightly coordinated, ultra-dense deployments that will generate extremely challenging throughput, latency, timing, and synchronization performance targets. This, in turn, requires an efficient and programmable fronthaul and backhaul solution.

In this webinar, we will explore the new 5G RAN architecture and its impact on deployment and operations, with a focus on optimization, assurance, testing, troubleshooting and service automation tools.

The demands to verify and support new networking products based on emerging packet and optical transport based standards are challenging network equipment manufacturers from R&D to manufacturing. An overview of these new technologies, challenges and testing solutions in the NEMs space will be presented.

What do mining companies, fashion brands and banks have in common? They are all talking about digital transformation. The telecom and financial services industries are ahead of most other verticals in their digital transformation though they remain well behind digital natives such as WhatsApp and Alipay. Just as “banks are now IT companies selling financial solutions” (to quote a Boston Consulting Group report), telecom operators are now IT companies selling connectivity and value-added services. And the core components of telecom IT are OSS and BSS. While the vast majority of telecom capex goes on network infrastructure, the IT systems which manage this infrastructure, and the customer-facing applications on top, are critical to transforming the business.

This webinar we will examine digital transformation in the telecom industry through the lens of Business and Operational Support Systems. The key aspects of OSS and BSS transformation we will discuss include:

Improving the customer experience – meeting customer expectations for ease of ordering and problem resolution; making personalized new offerings based on data analytics.

Accelerating time to market – turning operators into service aggregators (the platform play) for third parties (e.g., Netflix, Spotify, Deezer, financial services, utilities, etc.), similar to the app store concept for smartphones. The platform opportunity is not just about consumer services but also encompasses the myriad B2B2X opportunities that IoT entails.

Increasing the agility of operations – increasing automation and the ability to rapidly respond to new customer requirements.

Unleashing internal innovation – adoption of DevOps and a fast-fail mentality to unleash the creative potential within a telco's own workforce and provide an attractive environment for recruitment.

Coherent technology continues to move into a broader range of applications as increasing bandwidth is required to support growing consumer demand. 100G coherent technology was initially adopted by carriers for long-haul dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) networks because of its spectral efficiency and reach compared to the previous generation of 10G (non-coherent) systems. More recently, through design optimization, pluggable coherent solutions have moved into metro applications where size and power are critical factors. Today, pluggable coherent solutions support a wide range of applications in a compact, CFP2-DCO form factor that is power efficient. As SDN and NFV become more prevalent, these coherent solutions are expected to become more widely adopted.

This Light Reading webinar explores the future of coherent technologies with a specific focus on service provider applications and benefits. Key topics in this webcast will include:

Cellular-V2X (C-V2X) is an important technology for improved road safety and the future of autonomous driving, and momentum continues to build around C-V2X with a broad ecosystem support. Following Audi, Ford, Groupe PSA and SAIC announcing their support of Qualcomm’s first C-V2X commercial solution, more news started to break about automotive Tier 1 suppliers using Qualcomm’s C-V2X solutions for testing and upcoming commercial implementations. Automakers, Tier 1 suppliers, mobile operators, semiconductor companies, test equipment vendors, telecom suppliers, traffic signal suppliers, road operators and municipalities are closely collaborating to accelerate C-V2X technology development and commercialization. The recent news from AT&T, Ford, Nokia, Qualcomm and McCain announcing the first US C-V2X trials in San Diego is just an example of this collaboration.

Why is C-V2X gaining traction and support from key automotive players?

Join our Qualcomm experts for this webinar to know why and get your facts straight about:

What are the design aspects that enable C-V2X to provide superior performance and reliability for automotive safety?

Can C-V2X be ready for commercial deployment in cars for 2020? How?

How does the C-V2X evolution to 5G address new complementary use cases, while maintaining backward compatibility?

What are the economic benefits that C-V2X brings to automakers, as well as infrastructure providers?

Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) will become the processor of choice for real-time communications (RTC) in the cloud.

GPUs have already become the de-facto choice in the cloud to solve large compute-intensive tasks such as image processing, AI and machine learning. Media transcoding is one of the most compute-intensive operations for real-time communications, so as RTC migrates to the cloud, a match between compute need and a compute solution aligns perfectly.

Sonus understands how to successfully take advantage of GPUs to ensure real-time communication performance; it’s in their DNA. Listen to the experts explain how using GPUs achieves orders of magnitude performance improvement vs. CPU implementations and is now equivalent or better than most DSP-based solutions.

This webinar will provide the latest information on:

The state of the market for GPUs

GPU performance relative to DSPs and CPUs

GPU cost relative to DSPs and CPUs

An assessment of how GPUs perform for quality of service

A proposal for how to better support GPUs with OpenStack

Webinar participants will understand why Sonus is bullish on GPUs and why they are the future of media processing for real-time communications in the cloud.

Operational Support Systems are, frankly, a mess. They struggle to support a mish-mash of existing technologies let alone the coming wave of NFV. On top of that they are a roadblock to the much-needed digital transformation of the telecom business itself.

Accepting the need to change, where should CSPs start to rebuild the OSS? Big bang transformations are risky, expensive and frequently under deliver. Instead a more tactical approach is required. Drawing on real world experience of implementing OSS, this webinar will explore some of the key areas for OSS transformation that can unlock the most value in the shortest time frame:

With the development of enterprise mobility, cloud computing, Big Data and the Internet of Things (IoT), as a network administrator, have you ever thought of the following issues? This upcoming “Enabling Networks to be more Agile for Services” webinar will discover the following questions that network administrators are seeking answers for:

How to converge both wired and wireless networks to deliver consistent experiences and simplified management?

How to guarantee the high-quality mobile work methods in diversified mobile scenarios?